The other world
by movie-series-comics-freak
Summary: Astrid is a young explorer with a difficult past. Her only companion is her dragon, Stormfly. When Astrid first meets Valka, she thinks this will only be one or two year-long expedition, nothing more. What she doesn't know is a deadly dragon virus and Valka's son will change all of that.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own "How to train your dragons" or any of the characters. All copyrights go to the actual writers. This is just a fanfic written by a teen who's a fan of the movies and the series "Race to the Edge".**_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

The cold wind whipped her face. Her cheeks were freezing and her hands were numb. But that was logical, since she had been riding Stormfly for hours in this awfully cold weather. And it was freaking summer! How on Earth could people live in this part of the globe? Yes, Astrid Hofferson knew the world was round. Why? Because she had once spent two years searching for the so called "Edge of the flat world". She kept on flying east. And she flew on and on until… she came to the same town, where she had started. Astrid looked down. There was just ocean. No sign of any island. She signed. Maybe it had been a mistake, travelling this high up north. Astrid shook her head. This wasn't a mistake. This was an adventure. She was an explorer after all. Astrid was born on small island south-west of Spain. There everyone had a dragon. Dragons were looked as valuable pets and in a lot of cases friends. Having a bond with any sort of dragon was considered a gift from the gods. Yes, Casad, was a wonderful island with wonderfully warm weather. "At least it was until the Great War," Astrid thought bitterly. The Great War. The destruction of towns, cities and islands. Deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians. She had lost everything in those three years. When the war ended she was a friendless eleven-year-old ex-soldier/orphan with her second dragon. And since everyone was too busy with building up their own lives again, she had left to start her adventures. And here she was, seven years later, travelling the northern seas, seeing what awaited her there. Stormfly groaned. She was getting tired. So was Astrid. "Don't worry girl," Astrid said as she patted her dragon, "I'm sure we'll find some land soon." Stormfly snorted as a reply, as if saying, "You should have bought a map." "Well, where's the adventure in that?" Astrid laughed. Stormfly turned her head and glared at Astrid with one eye. Astrid raised her hands. "Okay, okay I got it. I'll buy a map at the next village we get to. I just hope my Norwegian is good enough." Stormfly snorted once more and focused ahead of her. Astrid also focused ahead. There was suddenly so much fog around them. Astrid's hand went to her axe. Fog was the perfect hiding place for an attack. Then a dark shape in front of them was slowly growing bigger and bigger. The fog started to fade to reveal a tall island with huge spikes of ice covering the top. There was a cave at mid-height. "Well better than nothing," Astrid thought. She had slept in way creeper places than this.

Valka was playing with some of the dragon babies. They hadn't learned to fly yet, so they were just joyfully jumping up and down. Suddenly Cloudjumper was right next to her, flapping her wings urgently. "Something must have happened," Valka thought as she quickly pulled her mask over her face and jumped onto Cloudjumpers back. Cloudjumper lifted off and flew swiftly to the entrance. When they were halfway through the entrance tunnel, she saw a light. "Did the hunters find the nest?" Valka thought mortified. But then she saw a bunch of calm dragons surrounding the light. Her eyes widened at the lights source.

Astrid twirled a few times, her hands consumed by her flames. When she and Stormfly had entered the cave, they realized it went way deeper into the mountain. Curiosity got the better of them, so they wandered farther in. Then they met the other dragons. They were all new species that Astrid had never seen before. She was so excited. This was why she came. To study the difference between southern dragons and northern dragons. The other dragons though, didn't seem at all delighted about their human visitor, so Astrid decided to do her thing. Astrid wasn't an average human. She was a draga. A draga is a human with dragon blood in their veins. Draga bloodlines date back thousands of years to the time of the Dragaci Coven. As a draga, Astrid possessed abilities such as controlling and creating fire, super hearing, smell, sight and touch. She could also change some aspects of her physical appearance at will. She had learned from the beginning that dragons tend to relax when an unknown species shows a characteristic that dragons also has. So, she transformed her hands into balls of fire and began a little dance. The dance was just her twirling around, moving her hands up and down. Then she stood still and turned the flames into two orange glowing balls. She crouched to the ground and rolled the two balls towards the other dragons. The balls grew quickly smaller and left two stripes of fire behind them. The dragons let out joyous roars. Astrid smiled and gave a little bow. That's when she noticed to figure standing in between the dragons. It was thin, tall and had human hands. Those hands went up to the mask, hiding the face, and took it off, revealing a dark-haired woman with green eyes.

Valka stared at the girl in awe. How did she do that? Was she even human? She looked human with her golden hair in a side braid, her blue eyes and lovely face. She seemed a little smaller than Valka and wore a way too large brown coat. This girl was surely 17, 18, but she composed herself like a woman. "Hi," the girl stammered in an accent that Valka didn't recognize, "Me…not…um…danger…me friend." Clearly the girl wasn't from around here. "Welcome my dear," Valka said, "Welcome to our dragon's nest. I'm Valka and this is Cloudjumper." The girl pointed at herself "Astrid," then pointed at a dragon that kind of looked like a Nadder, only with different colors, a different wing- and tail shape. And weren't Nadder heads a bit smaller? "Stormfly," Astrid said. "You tired?" Valka asked. Both newcomers nodded. Valka had noticed from the beginning that they were exhausted. "Come with me. We'll let you stay for tonight. We have enough food and space for both of you." "Thank…you," Astrid replied with her very thick accent.

Astrid understood a few of the words. Welcome, dragon's nest, tired, you, come, stay, food. It sounded alright. And Stormfly had calmed down and was starting to follow the older woman, which was always a good sign. "We were anyways going to camp here, so why not take the invite," she thought and followed the woman and her dragon, Valka and Cloudjumper if Astrid had understood correctly, farther into the cave. Soon the tunnel was filled with light and Astrid was standing on a cliff overlooking a green valley with a gigantic waterfall and lake. In the lake was the most enormous dragon Astrid had ever seen. "Who…this?" she asked Valka pointing at the massive creature. Valka smiled at the girl's awe. "It's a Bewilderbeast. Every nest has its queen, but this is the king of all dragons!" Valka explained. Astrid nodded and looked around the nest. It was at least five times bigger than any other nest she had encountered. She took out her new notebook and started writing down the new knowledge. Valka looked over Astrid's shoulder, but couldn't read any of the words. "What language is this?" Valka asked. Astrid jumped, she had totally forgotten about her hostess. "I…write notes," Astrid started to explain, "I love dragons…and I study dragons. I want to…um…learn…difference of south dragons and north dragons." Valka nodded, but still wanted an answer to her question. So, she pointed at the words in Astrid's book. "Language, please?" Valka tried again. Astrid needed a few seconds before she understood, "Spanish. I write Spanish". Valka nodded. Spanish. She had heard about this language before. It was widely spread in the south if she was correct. "So, you come from the south?" Valka asked. Astrid nodded, "Yes, first time north." "The cold must have been harsh on you," Valka examined Astrid's shaking body. "Yes…told it was summer…not…um…think summer so cold." Valka laughed, "Oh poor thing. Come on, there's a very warm space down this way. And I'll get you a better coat, because with that useless thing, it's a miracle you're still alive." Astrid groaned, "I pay a lot for this." Valka laughed all the way to her kitchen.

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 _ **The quote "Every nest has its queen, but this is the king of all dragons!" is from the second movie. Valka says it to Hiccup when he first sees the Bewilderbeast.**_

 _ **I wanted Stormfly to still be a Nadder, but since she is from areas with warmer temperatures, I thought it would be better if there were some minor differences, in the appearances and abilities, between a northern Nadder and a southern Nadder. The same goes for other northern and southern dragon comparisons, although maybe I'll invent some original dragons or even another class.**_ _ **We'll see ;)**_ _ **.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I'm freezing my butt off out here, people! Can't we just turn around and call it a day?" Hiccup rolled his eyes and Toothless snorted. As usual Snotlot was being a real pain in the ass, always complaining. And to his dismay others were joining Snotlot's side. "Yeah," said Tuff, "I'm getting really bored. Do you know many things I could have destroyed in the amount of time we spent on patrolling these waters?" "I'd rather not think about that," Hiccup signed. It had been four years since they had defeated the queen, but somethings never change. There had been rumors of dragon hunters sailing up to the northern part of the Barbaric Archipelago to capture dragons. And now it was their job to find out if it was true. "Okay, let's all take a break and restore some of our strength," Hiccup compromised. The other riders nodded in agreement. So, they landed on the next small island. There were some very sturdy icebergs around them, where they could have also rested, but real land was always safer. Heather, who had been spending more time on dragon's edge, was talking to Fishlegs about some new feature she had discovered by Windshear, Snotlot was flirting with Ruffnut and though she was making fun of him, she seemed to like the attention. And last, but not least, Tuffnut was busy talking to Macey, his mace. Hiccup signed. All his friends had someone in their life, just not him. Even after being the first to train a dragon, be the best dragon rider of Berk, and defeating Alvin, Dagur and of course the mighty Red Death, he was just a one-legged fishbone, who everyone liked, but would never love. Toothless noticed how depressed his master was and gave him a little nudge. Hiccup looked down to his dragon. "Don't worry, bud," he said stroking the dragon's head, "I'll be fine."

Astrid pulled her scarf higher up her nose and rubbed her hands together. "Thor, is it cold up here!" she thought and suddenly jolted. "Did I just think that?" Thor, Valka must have rubbed on her. Valka was one of the kindest women she had ever met. She respected Valka, even idolized her at times. She and Valka had formed a certain bond over the one year and Astrid had felt very much at home in Valka's dragon's nest. At the beginning Astrid had planned on staying for a year at Valka's, moving on at the beginning of next summer. But she couldn't leave yet. There was still so much more to study about these dragons. She and Stormfly had decided to stay another year. Valka had seemed very happy and somehow relieved at the change of plans. Right now, she and Stormfly were flying a little south. They were planning on trading some items at a market, a 14-hour flight from the nest. Astrid was going alone, since her Norwegian had got much better and she was now very fluent. There was still an accent, but no one seemed to care if they could understand her. It was only a few hours away now, but she was planning to camp on one of the uninhabited islands for the following night. She thought about the treasures she had been able to find the last time. A set of beautiful, but very sharp, daggers, new boots, a fine belt and a bronze bracelet. She dreamed of finding the perfect axe, that matched her current one. Two axes are better than one. Suddenly she heard a pained roar coming from down below. She looked and saw a Snow Wraith struggling in a massive cage. There were people moving towards it with spears and swords. "Dragon hunters!" Astrid whispered angrily. Stormfly growled dangerously. Astrid scanned the area quickly. Twenty men, each with a least two weapons, a ship, a huge cage on a huge iceberg with one Snow Wraith. Astrid smiled. This would be fun. "Come on, girl, let's show these guys what happens when you mess with dragons in our territory." Then they soared down at great speed.

Hiccup got up and was about to announce the break was over, when "BANG!". Everyone jumped up. Not too far away smoke rose into the sky. "Everyone get on your dragons and fly towards the smoke!" Hiccup shouted, jumping onto Toothless and soared into the sky.

Astrid added some of her own fire to Stormfly's magnesium blast, making an even more devastating blow for the ship. It directly split into two pieces, both ends on fire. Astrid jumped off Stormfly, pulled out her bat and knocked out six men, before they registered what was happening. Then the next two men pulled out their swords. Astrid switched her bat for her axe and swung it. The men swung their own swords trying to hit her arm or leg. But Astrid was quicker, dodging the blows or having them meet her axe. Suddenly she was between them and both men shot their swords toward her head. Astrid ducked and the men plunged their swords into each other's chests. Astrid run off towards Stormfly, who was closer to the Snow Wraith. Stormfly had already knocked out eight men. Four more were left. They were busy with Stormfly, so they didn't notice Astrid coming at first. One of the men turned, probably to check on the others, and spotted Astrid heading towards them. He ran towards her, lifting his axe aiming for her head. He was on higher ground, which would be great disadvantage for most opponents, but not an ex-soldier as Astrid herself. When they were close enough to each other the man dipped down his axe for Astrid's head. Astrid blocked the blow with her axe in one hand, her other hand grabbing a long dagger and plunging it into the man's leg. The man screamed, his legs buckling and his grip loosening. Astrid used her chance, pushing the man's axe out of his hand with her own axe. The other hand let go of the dagger, hit the ice and she swung her body over the higher piece of ice, her feet hitting the man in the face, knocking him out. Another heard his friend's cry and ran towards her. Astrid ran, then let herself fall and slide over the ice on her back. The other man barely registered her legs hitting his, before he tumbled down. Astrid jumped up and hit the man's head with the hilt of her axe. Stormfly had now defeated the other two hunters. "You stay on the lookout, I'll free the Snow Wraith!" Astrid commanded, running over to the cage. She pulled out a contraption, that could really open any lock. She stuck it into the key hole and softly turned it back and forth until…click. She swung the door open and made way. Just as she had expected, the Snow Wraith wasted no time rushing out into the open. Once it was out, Astrid ran to the man, who still had her dagger stuck in his leg and pulled it out. What? It was quite expensive and made in China. She quickly wiped the blood off with a cloth, when Stormfly screeched. Astrid turned to see five dragons above them. A Gronckle, a Hideous Zippleback, A Monstrous Nightmare, a Razorwhip and…a Night fury. Astrid's eyes widened. Valka had told stories, even shown a picture of the beautiful black creature. And Astrid had been so upset, when Valka said they were extinct. That's when she noticed the dragons had riders on their backs. Astrid quickly got to Stormfly, jumped into her saddle and they soared into the sky. Astrid stirred Stormfly towards the maze of ice, that lay before them. She wasn't sure if those riders were dragon-friendly or hunters, who had stepped up their game, but she wasn't going to stay and find out. "Never trust a stranger" was her motto and she stuck by it. Valka had been the only exception in eight years. Astrid nudged Stormfly and they both dove down into the tunnels of ice.

Hiccup and the other riders hurried towards the smoke. They spotted a Snow Wraith flying away from the site, which startled them. When they finally reached their destination, they saw a burning ship-wreck, about twenty still bodies, two were staining the ice with blood, a dragon that looked like a Deadly Nadder and a standing person. Their face was half covered in a blue scarf, matched their long-sleeved blue top and their hair was hidden in a brown hood. "Oh, my Thor," Fishlegs said, "We found another dragon rider." "Yeah, and they really know how to kick ass," Ruffnut said grinning. The dragon rider looked up at them, before running to their dragon, jumping on its back, flying up into the sky and then zoomed down into the ice tunnels. "Their getting away," Hiccup exclaimed, "Fishlegs, you and the twins find out who these people are! Snotlot, Heather, find the exists of the tunnels! Me and Toothless are going in." He gave Toothless a nudge and they swooped into the tunnels.

Astrid used her sensing abilities to determine where the riders were. She sensed the Night fury coming from behind. The Monstrous Nightmare and Razorwhip were heading forward to two of the three exists. Astrid grinned. She had discovered exist 3 by accident once. She nudged Stormfly to the right, stirring them into a tunnel of narrow turns. Luckily, Stormfly was very swift. Then they finally, it felt like a life-time, reached the entrance to a huge cave. To the left was a lake. One dives through the lake and the short underwater tunnel and one is in the ocean. Suddenly Astrid heard a cry.

Hiccup pressed himself on Toothless to make sure he didn't hit one of the walls. They had already explored these tunnels, so he knew the stranger was going down a dead end. This would be easy. When Hiccup and Toothless flew into the cave, they heard a cry. To the left, near the lake, a windstriker was helplessly trying to free it's wing from under a huge chunk of ice. He saw a thick rope tied around the ice. The nadder-like dragon and the stranger were tugging the rope, successfully pulling the chunk off the other dragon's wing. The windstriker stood up and tried moving it's wing. It wasn't too damaged, it could probably fly, but not for long without any medical attention. The stranger was stilled very focused on the windstriker, their eyes examining the movements with concern. Hiccup was about to suggest bringing the windstriker to his village, when the stranger turned their eyes to him. They widened at the sight of him and Toothless. Before he could say anything, the stranger jumped onto their dragon again, let out a cry and dove into the lake. The windstriker quickly followed them. Hiccup cursed and nudged Toothless to follow them and they sprang into the water. The water was ice cold. And to Hiccups surprise and shock there was an underwater tunnel. Toothless quickly swam through and soon they were at the surface. There was a third entrance to the tunnels! He then spotted the other two dragons flying away. "Come on, Toothless we can catch up with them!"

Astrid stared frustrated in front of her. Speedy, the windstriker, just had to explore those tunnels and get hurt, when Astrid was trying to escape some potential dragon-hunters. Speedy was one of the many dragons, who lived in Valka's nest and Astrid was quite fond of the energetic lass. Suddenly Speedy started to sway and bumped right into Stormfly. This shoved Astrid right out of her saddle into the air. Stormfly seemed ready to save her, but Astrid showed her a quick hand signal, that indicated that Stormfly should bring Speedy back to Valka's nest. Stormfly followed her orders and flew away carrying Speedy. Astrid rushed down to the water, as she closed her eyes and waited for impact. But it never came. Instead she felt a tug at her foot. She opened her eyes to see what had grabbed her, only to see a huge iceberg. That impact knocked her out cold.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Hiccup paced outside of Gothi's house. He bit his lip. He felt quite embarrassed about what had happened. When he saw the unknown rider being knocked off his saddle and falling to the ocean, he steered Toothless towards him. Toothless had grabbed his foot. Hiccup was so focused on catching the man, that he didn't see the huge iceberg. Quickly he had pulled the unconscious body up to his lap and pulled off his hood. It turned out he was a she. And quite a beautiful she. Suddenly Gothi was standing in front of him, signaling him to go inside. He walked in to see the female dragon rider sitting up in the patience's bed and taking in her surroundings. He coughed to get her attention. She turned her head toward him and made eye-contact. She had very beautiful blue eyes, that went perfectly with her rosy lips, fair face and golden, braided-hair. But even though she had this angelic face, there was this dangerous and intelligent demeanor about her, that made him a bit cautious. "Hello, I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast. Welcome to Berk," he said giving his most welcoming smile. She gave him a disinterested look, but said, "Astrid." She was quiet for a second, then, "Are you the idiot who let my head hit the iceberg?" Hiccup scratched his neck sheepishly.

"Yes."

"Do all your captives get to enjoy that special treatment?"

Hiccup's eyes widened and he quickly responded, "Oh no. You're no captive. When I saw you falling, I wanted to catch you and I wasn't paying attention. It was an accident." He paused, then spoke, "Why did run from us?" "Why won't I run from you?", Astrid countered, "For all I knew, you guys were hunters, who decided to train your own dragons, so you'd have it easier capturing other dragons." Hiccup thought for a second. Astrid did have a point, he had to admit. "Well, we're not. We help and protect dragons, we don't capture or hurt them", Hiccup said, "Where exactly are you from? You don't have that typical Viking accent." Astrid stared at the ceiling for moment, then looked back at him.

"Spain. It's in south Europa."

"How long have you been in the Barbaric Archipelago?"

"By how well I speak Norwegian, what do you think?"

"Two years, probably."

"And the arrow misses the bull's eye."

Hiccup groaned. She wasn't quite easy to deal with.

"And your name is only Astrid. No surname?"

"If it helps, in the south I'm known as "the blonde bitch on the freakish monster". That fame is quite widely spread."

"You don't say."

Hiccup decided to go back to his house. This was no use. "I'll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, you can sleep here." And with that he left Gothi's hut.

He walked to his house. To his surprise his father was in the living room with Gobber. When Hiccup closed the door, Stoick asked, "So had did it go?" Hiccup shrugged, "She was difficult. She only gave short answers that were quite vague. It didn't seem like she wanted to share her story." Gobber laughed, "Well, what did you expect, laddie? You chased her with a Night Fury through ice tunnels and then hit her head with an ice berg. It would make any woman, Viking or not, quite upset." Hiccup blushed as Stoick also started to laugh. "Seriously, guys, it's not that funny," Hiccup said sheepishly. "True. It's actually a serious matter," Stoick said, regaining his composure, "So what did you find out about her?"

Hiccup sat down on the stool between the two older men. "She says, she's from a land called Spain, somewhere south of the Barbaric Archipelago. But she said her name's Astrid. Astrid is actually a Viking name, so maybe she lied," Hiccup sighed, "That's all I got." "Maybe she has Viking roots from one of her parents. She could be up here to visit some distant relatives, a great aunt or something," Gobber suggested. "Maybe, but wouldn't she have given the tribe's name, where she is staying at, if that were the case," Hiccup countered, "What do you think, Dad?"

Stoick stared ahead for a few minutes, then turned back to his son and his friend. "Is it true that she freed two dragons and that she only killed two of the twenty hunters? The other eighteen were only knocked out and had minor wounds?" he asked. Hiccup looked up, surprised that his father knew so much already, then realized that he probably had talked to one of the other riders while Hiccup was preoccupied. Hiccup nodded. Stoick thought for another moment, stroking his beard. "She's on our side, since she technically wants the best for the dragons," he suddenly said, "Even though she killed someone, it was only two out of twenty, which shows she prefers to spare lives if possible." He stood up. "We should show her some kindness. Gobber, go to Gothi's and tell her to bring the girl to the Great Hall tonight. It's Silent Sven's Birthday anyway, so there'll be plenty of food. Hiccup, go and clean yourself up a bit. I'll see you later at the Great Hall this evening."

Then both older men walked out of the house. When the front door had closed, Gobber spoke, "You told the lad to clean himself up? You never do that." When Stoick didn't say anything, Gobber chuckled, "That desperate to find your son a wife." Stoick sighed, "I'm not getting any younger, Gobber, and neither are you. Hiccup will need someone to take care of him, when we're gone and all other young lasses we know are taken." Stoick paused, "And I want grandchildren." Gobber laughed and patted the chief on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much, Stoick. I'm sure everything is going to be just fine."

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 _ **The idea of Stoick wanting grandchildren isn't my own idea. I've seen many funny fan art pieces doing this joke. Seriously, they're hilarious. Good job to all those "HTTDY" fan-artists. Thank you for existing.**_

 _ **As for Astrid's family, yes some of her relatives on her father's side are Vikings, otherwise I couldn't call her Astrid Hofferson.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Astrid stared up at the ceiling. The man, Hiccup, had left a while ago and the old woman with the staff, who didn't speak, was sweeping the floor in the other room. Astrid's first instinct was to run and hide in the woods. With her dragon-senses she could feel that she was only a few hours away from the spot where she had freed the Snow Wraith. She could feel the warmth from the ship's ashes. But then she realized that Stormfly had been on her way to Valka's. Stormfly would need until early morning to get to the nest, would probably have to rest of course, then fly back here. She'd be here earliest back tomorrow, late at night. Astrid signed. If she ran off, she would have to stay a whole day in hiding on this island. And the other dragons would probably track her down before Stormfly could arrive. It wasn't so bad, staying put. At least these people weren't dragon hunters. Astrid started to think. She remembered hearing stories about Berk in the taverns at the market. How it used to be plagued by dragon raids and now had dragon riders thanks to the tribe's heir, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock lll, also known as the "Dragon Conqueror". Astrid had to always snort at this title. Dragon Conqueror. Not even the members of the great Dragaci Coven could claim that they had conquered dragons, even with all their spells and charms, so how could a mortal boy or now man come even close to conquering dragons. The weird thing about Hiccup and Berk was that whenever she mentioned them to Valka, Valka slowly got a sad and longing expression. Astrid had wondered about Valka's human family, since Valka never talked about them. Astrid only knew that Valka had been taken by Cloudjumper to the nest nineteen years ago. And it was only these nineteen years that they discussed. Which was totally fine with Astrid, since she was nowhere near ready to talk about what had happened to her before her explorer days. It was one of the few silent understandings that Astrid and Valka had with each other. Probably one of the reasons why they got along with each other.

Suddenly the door swung open, making Astrid jolt up in her bed. A large man with a long, blonde, braided moustache walked in. Instead of a left hand he had a hook and instead of a right, flesh leg he had a right, wooden leg. "Sorry for frightening you lass," he chuckled. "It's alright", Astrid responded, "I didn't expect any more interrogations today." Just then Gothi walked into. "Don't worry lass, that's not why I'm here." He turned to Gothi. "Hi, Gothi. The girl's sleeping here for now, her meals will be served in the Great Hall, so bring her with you tonight." He then turned back to Astrid. "Today's Silent Sven's Birthday, so don't be surprised by the crowd, lass. You're more than welcome to join the celebration." "Thank you, Sir", Astrid responded politely. "Call me Gobber, lass. I don't need to hear those fancy titles. I'll see you both later." With that he left the room.

Astrid followed Gothi up the stairs towards the giant door in the mountain. Two huge Viking statues stood on both sides of the door. People and dragons were walking or flying to the door. Astrid couldn't help but form a pained smile, as she watched three siblings riding a Gronkle, one stroking softly the Gronkle's head and then a little girl clutching a Terrible Terror to her chest, like a cat. It reminded her of her old home, before it had been destroyed. When she walked in, she couldn't help but gasp at how large the Great Hall was. Only palaces and castles had such large rooms. Everywhere she looked she saw dragons and Vikings standing or sitting next to each other in harmony. She looked in front of her and realized that Gothi was gone. Astrid then felt her tummy growl. She was starving. She spotted a huge fire farther into the room and walked towards it. There she found a bunch of tables set in a circle, surrounding the huge fire. They were stacked with meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Astrid saw woman in the circle and waved at the woman. When the woman came over, Astrid asked, "How does this work with the food? Where do I order and how many pieces am I allowed to have?" The woman laughed, "Oh no, lass. You can just take and take as much as you can eat." "Really?", Astrid asked astonished. "Of course. We have more than enough." The woman then turned back to the fire. "Thanks," Astrid called after. She grabbed an empty plate that was nearby, then she took some fish, yak meat and an apple. She quickly found where they had the water. In the end, she took a seat in a corner in the front of the Great Hall. She was surprised, but happy when she found an empty table. The everybody probably wanted to be at the back where the food, drinks and action were. Astrid preferred being alone with a book. Luckily, she always had one with her. It was hidden in a secret compartment in her skirt. She pulled it out and started to read.

"So, what was she like", Heather asked Hiccup as he came to their table. "Who? Oh, you mean Astrid, right?", Hiccup said as he set down his plate. "Her name's Astrid. That's a Viking name, so she's from these parts", Heather continued. Hiccup shook his head, "No, she said she was from a land called Spain. And trust me, her accent is definitely not Viking." "So, she has Viking ancestors", Fishlegs said, "I've heard of Spain from Trader Johann. He was never there, but a friend was. Very warm climate and they have a certain drink called wine." "Who cares about her ancestors, name or country!", Ruffnut exclaimed, "I want to know what moves she used against the hunters and where she got this awesome dagger." Ruffnut then pulled out the long dagger, they found strapped to Astrid's belt. The handle was wrapped with red thread, two dragon heads were craved on the right and left side, where handle and blade met, and the blade itself was engraved with diagonal lines. It was quite beautiful. "That's supposed to be at Gobber's", Hiccup frowned snatching the dagger away for Ruffnut. "Oh, come on. I'm sure Astrid won't mind. She wouldn't have her dagger in her hands either way", Ruffnut groaned and rolled her eyes. "It's supposed to be at Gobber's and that's the end of it", Hiccup responded, strapping the dagger to his belt. "Where is she anyways?", Heather asked, "Is she still at Gothi's?" "No, she was invited by my dad to come to the celebration", Hiccup answered as he started to look around for Astrid, "She should be here but I don't see her." Tuffnut suddenly got up and stepped on the table. It shook, two plates nearly fell off. "Tuff, by Thor, what are you doing?", Snotlot shouted. "Looking for the new girl", Tuffnut answered turning around, staring to the end of the room. "I see her. She's sitting at a table all alone", he suddenly exclaimed, pointing towards the front of the Great Hall. "Really?", Heather said and joined Tuffnut on the table, making it shake again. She looked where he was pointing. "You're right! She is there all alone." Heather paused. "We should probably go over there. Astrid shouldn't be left alone." With that Heather jumped off the table, grabbed her plate and cup and walked towards the front. Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlot followed the suit with no comment. They all looked very excited. Hiccup signed. Toothless was with the other dragons and he didn't want to be alone, but at the same time he didn't feel like being in Astrid's presence. He signed again, before grabbing his plate and cup and followed the others to the front. When he approached the table, everyone had taken a seat around Astrid, so he took a seat at the far side of the table and listened to the conversation.

Astrid had put her book anyway and started to think about her possible second interrogation. She should probably not talk about the nest or Valka. Suddenly she heard a plate being set on the table. It came from right in front of her. Astrid looked up to see a black-haired woman seat herself in the spot right in front of Astrid. Next to other woman, a bulky, blonde man and a black-haired man seated themselves. Next to Astrid were suddenly two twins. The female twin sat right next to her, while the male twin sat next to his sister and was opposite to the black-haired man. "Hi", the woman, "I'm Heather, this is my boyfriend, Fishlegs, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Snotlot." "I'm Astrid", Astrid answered, feeling not quite comfortable with this group around her. "So, we heard you're from Spain. That's where exactly?" Heather continued. "It's south of the Barbaric Archipelago", Astrid answered coldly. She hoped her disinterested tone would give a hint that she wanted to be alone. Apparently, it didn't. "So, tell us about it!", the blonde man, Fishlegs was it, said, "We've never been outside the Barbaric Archipelago." "That's sad", Astrid thought, but instead said, "Hot. It is very hot there." "Does it rain?", Tuffnut asked. "Not that often", Astrid answered. "I heard that there's this drink called wine", Fishlegs said.

"Yes, there is," Astrid answered dully.

"Is it good?"

"Depends."

Everyone looked at Astrid expectantly for more information. When nothing came, Fishlegs asked.

"On what?"

"The color."

"It comes in different colors?"

"Yes."

Again, they waited. Then Fishlegs asked hesitantly.

"Which colors?"

"White and red."

"Is wine sweet?"

"Depends."

"Depends on the color?"

"No."

There was another pause. Fishlegs asked, now in an annoyed tone.

"Are there different kinds of wine?"

"Yes."

"What kinds of wine are there?"

"Sweet and bitter."

Before Fishlegs could scream the next question, someone shouted, "THERE'S CAKE!" "Yeah! Cake!", the twins cheered in delight and ran off to the back. "Leave some for me!" Snotlot shouted, racing after the twins. Heather quickly got up and pulled a red-faced Fishlegs with her. "My work here is done", Astrid thought to herself and ate the last of her food. That's when she heard the laughing. She turned to the other end of the table, to see the Berk's heir laughing.

"What's so funny?", she asked. Hiccup needed a minute to calm himself down. Thor, he had never seen Fishlegs so angry in his life. But he had to say Fishlegs' face had been priceless. "What you did to my friend. It was mean, but hilarious", he finally answered. Astrid shrugged, then drank from her cup. "You did the same with me this afternoon. Do all strangers in your life get this special treatment?", Hiccup asked as he scotched over to the spot in front of Astrid. Astrid put down her cup. "Most of the time." "That's not quite polite, you know", Hiccup countered. "Being polite is overrated", Astrid said, while letting her finger run over the rim of her cup. Hiccup studied her, while her eyes followed her finger. She was muscular, but still feminine. With her creamy skin, blue eyes and fair hair, she did look like a Viking. "She could really have ancestors up here", Hiccup thought. Then her eyes met his. "You don't like sweet stuff, do you", she commented. This caught Hiccup off guard. "No…I do like sweet stuff", Hiccup answered, "Why do you ask?" "There's cake, but you choose to talk to a professional asshole", she explained. Hiccup laughed, "You consider yourself a professional asshole?" "Yup", Astrid said with a small grin, "And there's no better kind of asshole than that." With that she stood up. "I'm quite tired now. What do I do with the dishes?" "Oh, just put it on the table over there." Hiccup pointed at a table that already had a few dirty dishes on it. "Thanks", Astrid said and quickly finished the task. "Well, goodnight", she said, then closed the door behind her. "Goodnight", he muttered after her. He was a bit disappointed that she didn't stay.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 _ **Sorry it took so long. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**_

Astrid woke up the next morning to a roaster's cry. She sat up, confused by her surroundings. Then it all flashed back to her. She got up, put on her boots and strapped on her belt. She didn't like how her belt felt way lighter than usual. She missed her dagger, just like she missed strapping her bat and axe to her back. "Hiccup and the other dragon riders must have taken them and stored them somewhere", she thought, as she stretched her limbs. She needed a walk. She left a note for Gothi, saying that she went out for a stroll to move her legs.

Astrid stood at the edge of a cliff, enjoying the sea in front of her. She always loved the taste of the salty sea spray. It reminded her of home. As a little girl, she had lived with her family near the shore. The beach had been ten meters away from her bedroom window. In the early morning, she would jump through her window and walk along beach for a while, collecting sea shells. The neighbor's kids often joined her. They would have water fights in the end. When she came home, her parents would be awake. Her mother would scowl at her for making her bedroom floor wet, her father would ask about her new treasures, that she had found, and her older siblings would tease her about having a boyfriend, since the neighbors only had sons. She had been the youngest of nine siblings. Now, she was also the only one alive of nine siblings. A tear rolled down Astrid's cheek. Her older sister and brothers had always annoyed her to no end, but she had always loved them. And as each one of them died, one by one, she felt a piece of her heart die along with them.

Hiccup stared at the Astrid's dagger. He hadn't had a look at it until this morning. He admired the engravements on the blade and its handle. It was a piece of art, not like the normal Viking weapon. Sure, some swords had a nicely craved handle, but they didn't compare to this. Hiccup was now in the forge. He had wanted to check, if Astrid's other weapons were also foreign. Her axe was from around here, although one could only see the Viking style, when taking a closer look at the weapon. She had added her own personal touch with light blue cloth, red thread and dark blue feathers. The weirdly shaped stick with burnings was not from around here. He set the dagger next to his legs as he picked up the stick. Burnings were symbols or words in another language. There were both sentences or words. Probably names of people Astrid had encountered. "Recognize any languages, Iceberg?" Hiccup suddenly straightened, his eyes looking up to meet Astrid's. "No," Hiccup replied, "What is this stick for anyways?" "It's a bat," Astrid said, walking over to Hiccup and taking the bat, "The perfect instrument for knocking someone out. You have less of a chance of killing someone with it than with an axe." "But you still kill," Hiccup said, before realizing his mistake. Astrid glared at him. "I didn't kill those two," she growled, "They were both trying to kill me. I ducked and their blades hit each other." There was a pause. "Do you regret it?" Hiccup questioned. Astrid raised an eyebrow, "Regret what?"

"Both their deaths."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't cry over spilt milk."

Astrid turned her gaze to the other weapons in the black smith. There were some nice shield, axes and swords. She then turned her gaze back to Hiccup, who still had her dagger. "And trust me, those guys wouldn't shed a tear over me either. May I get my weapons back?" Hiccup stared at Astrid for a moment not bugging.

"Have you ever done it?"

"Done what?"

Hiccup took a deep breath. "Have you ever killed someone?"

Astrid took a few steps forward and bent her knees so she was at the same eye-level as Hiccup. Their faces were mere inches away.

She whispered, "In my life there have been moments where the choice was kill or get killed. I think we both know what I chose." She then straightened herself. "I try to avoid blood-baths, I really do. I don't enjoy my opponent's blood on my hands and I'm not proud of the lives I have taken. But I did take them and now I must live with this knowledge for the rest of my life as punishment. My weapons please?"

Hiccup stared at her for a few seconds, then handed over the dagger. "Don't make me regret this," Hiccup warned, his voice a bit darker. He got up, took Astrid's axe off the wall and gave it to her. As Astrid took her axe, she smirked, "You don't try to kill me and I don't try to kill you." "Sounds like a good deal", Hiccup replied, before turning to the weapons needing sharpening. Astrid took this as her queue and left the forge.

Hiccup walked behind the others as they lead Astrid to their table for dinner. Even after last evenings events, the other riders were still determined to get Astrid to open-up. They thought that maybe Astrid didn't want to talk about her past, since she didn't trust them, so they had been bombarding Astrid with memories, stories and all their knowledge about dragons from breakfast to lunch. When lunch was over, they took Astrid on a tour around Berk. They showed her everything from the arena to the cove. It didn't impress Astrid though. In fact, she only got annoyed, but no one seemed to notice except Hiccup. Probably because he was the only one not smothering her with their tales of being a dragon rider. She did smile once. After their tour the riders wanted to go see their dragons. Hiccup watched from behind as her eyes trailed along the dragons. She looked at the dragons lovingly. She seemed to like dragons better than people. Her eyes stopped at Toothless. They were filled with amazement. She slowly walked towards him, her right hand stretched in front of her. Then she touched his nose. Toothless stood still and let Astrid stroke his head. A smile spread over Astrid's face as she looked at the creature with wonder. Hiccup couldn't help but feel a little jealous. His dragon had an easier time getting human girls to like him then Hiccup himself.

Astrid gulped down the last piece of yak meat on her plate as she listened to another prank that the twins had pulled on their fellow villagers. All day she had to listen to the boring stories the young riders had to tell. Sure, she had heard worse, but they were getting on her nerves. She was dying to go to bed and sleep a few hours before taking her stuff and leaving. She had been able to sense Stormfly coming. At 1 am she should reach Berk. Astrid couldn't wait to leave. She knew Stormfly and Valka were worried about her and Astrid couldn't wait to ride on Stormfly's back again. She looked around at her entertainers for the evening. They weren't too bad. Fishlegs was the friendly, but naïve nerd, who would gladly spill all his information if you asked. Luckily, he had a smart, edgy girlfriend, Heather, who could make sure he wouldn't get used by the wrong people. Under other circumstances Astrid would have been Heather's friend. She liked the girl. Then there were the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who would be funny, but they reminded Astrid too much of some twins she had once known. Both sets were joyous and energetic. They saw the world as a happy place that needed a little mischief to be perfect. Astrid had to blink back tears as she remembered the first twins laying in the mud. Their hair, skin and cloths stained with blood. Their eyes open and dead. They lay next to each other side by side, hand in hand. She and the others buried them that way. It won't have been right if they had separated the twins. Live together, die together they always said. Astrid turned her eyes to Snotlot before the tears could fall. He was arrogant, a bit stupid and a flirt. If she had been from this island she would have probably punched him twice today. And last there was Hiccup. He kept to himself and was way quieter than the others, but he was still their leader. The others did respect him, even though he was quite different from them. He was more on the nerdy side, but not as much as Fishlegs. For some strange reason Hiccup reminded her of Valka. They looked very similar. Astrid shook her head. She'd be gone by morning, which meant she'd probably never see these guys again. She signed as she thought about the Night Fury. Oh, how she wished she could study this magnificent creature. It was probably the last of his kind. He was beautiful and strong with majestic wings. His black scales matched perfectly to his green eyes. She always felt such joy meeting new dragon species, so she let her smile show. She would have asked him to come with her and Stormfly, but she had seen the bond. Toothless saw Hiccup as his rider, his main human companion. In Casad breaking the bond between a dragon and his human is punishable by death. Astrid decided to call it a night and slowly stood up. She was about to announce her departure, when a voice boomed behind her, "Well if it isn't Berk's newest guest." Astrid whirled to see a large man with red hair and beard in braids and green eyes. "I'm Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk. I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to meet you before. I hope my son and his friends have been warm and welcoming to you." "Yes, they have been very welcoming, Sir." Even if she was leaving soon, Astrid followed her mother's most important rule. Always be polite. Stoick laughed, "Gobber mentioned you talked fancy. Just call me Stoick, lassie." Astrid nodded politely. The only similarity between Hiccup and Stoick were their green eyes, otherwise they were two completely different looking people. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have some friends waiting for me. Enjoy the evening and we'll talk tomorrow", and with that Stoick left their table. "And that was our dear chief. He might look deadly on the outside, but he's nice a guy, at least when you are on his good side", Snotlot said, before turning back to Ruffnut. "Good to know", Astrid said, "Well, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight everyone." "Already?", Heather exclaimed. "Yeah, I need a lot of sleep you know", Astrid shrugged. "Oh, okay", Heather replied a little disappointed, "Goodnight then." "Goodnight", the rest of the table said, as Astrid turned to leave. She walked out the door, down the steps and along the path to Gothi's. There she doublechecked that everything was ready for her escape in a few hours. Then she kicked off her boots and snuggled in her bed. She had to enjoy the soft wool and sheets. It would be awhile until she would sleep in a normal bed again.

She heard Stormfly's wings heading to the docks. It was a matter of minutes until her dragon would reach the coast. Quickly she pulled on her boots and grabbed her things. She swiftly tip-toed out of Gothi's house and raced to the docks. She made sure she stayed in the shadows. In a matter of minutes, she was at the docks. Luckily no one was to be seen. That's when she heard the soft flapping of wings.

Hiccup stared at the ocean before him. He leaned against the wall of Gobber's forge and enjoyed the salty breeze. He had been working on some sketches for new dragon training contraptions, but decided after a while that a little fresh air would do him good. Toothless lay next to him, loyal at his rider's side. Suddenly Toothless's ears perked up and Hiccup started to see a shape coming closer to Berk. Hiccup squinted and realized that it was a dragon flying towards them, or to be precise towards the docks. Hiccup dashed over to the side with the view of the docks. There he spotted her. Astrid stood at the docks looking up at the dragon. Hiccup then recognized the dragon as the one Astrid had been riding the other day. Astrid wasted no time getting on top her dragon. She jumped and swung herself onto her saddle, before the dragon's feet reach the wooden boards. Astrid steered her dragon back to the ocean and they took off towards the horizon. Hiccup dashed back to the forge. He grabbed his travel satchel and left a note for Gobber and his father. He headed back to Toothless, got onto his saddle and followed the foreign dragon rider into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Astrid signed as she saw Valka's nest. She was rather tired from the little sleep the night before. Only the adrenaline kept her awake. She didn't look that often behind her to check that she wasn't being followed. That's how she didn't notice the Night Fury following them.

Hiccup yawned. This trip was quite exhausting, considering he hadn't gotten any sleep last night. But he had to find out where Astrid was going. He had been expecting that her dragon would show up eventually, but he hadn't expected the dragon would come so soon, what with the other injured dragon. Hiccup noticed they were going North. Farther then he and the other dragon riders had ever gone. They had preferred flying South when finding new dragon species. Suddenly he saw Astrid flying into a huge fog. When they reached the edge of the fog, Toothless made a disapproving snort. "I know you don't like fog, Bud, but this is our only chance to find out where Astrid's going," Hiccup said, while stroking Toothless' head, before nudging him forward. So, they flew into the fog. Not long after, the fog lifted revealing a big island with huge spikes of ice covering the top. Hiccup gasped as he saw the spikes. He wondered what creature had done this. Then he spotted Astrid and her dragon just as they disappeared into a cave entrance. "Come on, Bud, we're almost there."

Astrid and Stormfly rushed through the tunnel. Astrid quickly waved "Hello" to the dragons who were guarding the tunnel. They all knew her now, so they gave her friendly snorts, before minding their own business. When she made it to the underground valley, she saw Valka and Cloudjumper, ready to go out on patrol or something. "Astrid!" Valka cried out in relief as she ran to the other woman and embraced her with a signature Valka bear-hug. "I was so worried. Are you alright?" "Yes, don't worry. They didn't hurt me. I'm just a bit tired." Suddenly a dragon roared in alarm from the tunnel. "Oh no," Astrid thought, "Intruders!"

Hiccup took out Inferno, his inflammable sword, and lit it on fire. Then he swung it around himself a few times, making all the dragons back up a few steps. He turned it off again and let out the Hideous Zippleback Gas from the hilt. That would make the other dragons think he was one of them. Toothless watched this, while readying himself to pounce on any unfriendly dragon. Hiccup then stretched out his hand to touch the Gronckle in front of him, when he heard her voice. "You just had to follow me." He looked to the right to see Astrid. She was standing not too far away from him between two other dragons. There was a taller woman standing behind her. Hiccup smirked, "Well, it was pretty easy to see you flee Berk from the forge. Next time find a more hidden spot to mount your dragon." Astrid groaned and opened her mouth to say something when the woman behind her spoke, "Hiccup?" The woman walked past Astrid towards Hiccup. "Could it be after all these years? How's this possible?" she said. "Should I know you?" Hiccup asked. The woman was certainly older than Astrid and had long, brown hair in a braid. He noticed Astrid looked just as confused as he did. She also had no idea what was going on. "No, you were just a baby," the woman said. There was a pause where her eyes were on the ground, then looked up again to meet his eyes. "But a mother never forgets."

"But a mother never forgets." Astrid felt her jaw drop. Hiccup was Valka's son. It all made sense. The longing expression by the mention of Berk and Hiccup. How Hiccup and Valka looked so alike. And still she couldn't believe it. Why had Valka never returned to Berk? "Astrid, are you alright?" Valka asked worriedly. Astrid realized her mouth was still open and she was staring with very widened eyes. She closed her mouth and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. She had gaped at a mother-son reunion. How disrespectful! Her mother would've been very disappointed in her. She tried to think of a polite response, but all that came out was, "He's your son!" Valka nodded. "Which means you're from Berk." Valka nodded, again. "Which also means Stoick the Vast is your husband. Oh my God, you were married this whole entire time!" Again, Valka nodded. Astrid stared at Valka, then at Hiccup who seemed to be processing what he had just heard, then back at Valka, then back at Hiccup. That's when Astrid realized something else. "You know what. I think I've ruined this reunion enough. I'm just going to go check on Speedy in the infirmary and leave you two. You've got a lot of catching up to do I think." With that she raced to Stormfly and flew out of the tunnel and into the valley. When she knew Valka couldn't see her anymore, she let a few tears roll down her cheeks. She was happy that Valka had reunited with her son, it just hurt when she knew she could never reunite with her mother.

"Come this way!" Valka said as she flew ahead. "Wait!" Hiccup called after her, as he raced with Toothless behind her. "You can't just say something like that and just run off. You're my mother! Do you know how insane that sounds?" "We're almost there," Valka announced. The tunnel lighting was starting to get brighter. "I have a lot of questions. Where have you been all this time? Everyone thinks you're dead," Hiccup shouted, before he and Toothless flew into the light. He saw hundreds of dragons flying in the air or relaxing near a lake. Hiccup gasped. They stood before a massive underground valley. "So, this is where you've been all this time?" His mother looked and smiled, "Isn't it beautiful?" "Yes, the view is breath-taking." Hiccup looked at his mother. Gobber had been right. He got his looks from his mother, except for her eyes. He had his father's eyes. "So, you live here with Astrid? No other humans, just dragons?" "Yes," Valka said, "Sometimes it can get a bit lonely, but Astrid is good company." Hiccup nodded, "How long has she been here?"

"She arrived last summer. Poor thing, cold to the bone. She had bought this horrible cloak that didn't warm her at all. She could barely speak our language back then. Luckily she's a fast learner."

"So, what do you know about her?"

Valka stared at her son. She hadn't seen him in nineteen years, so she wanted to memorize every detail. She smiled at his last question, "She loves dragons. She loves to study them, take notes and fly with them. She's good at learning languages. She has traveled with Stormfly around the world for seven years. She says she's an explorer." Hiccup nodded, then stared ahead looking over the valley once more. "So, this is where you've been all these years?" "Yes, Cloudjumper brought me here and I've stayed here ever since." "Why didn't you ever come back to Berk?" Valka signed, "At first it was because of the dragons. I believed there was a way for peace between the dragons and humans. One night, my belief almost got you and your father killed. That's why I left. Years later when Astrid started telling me about the rumors that Berk was at peace with dragons, I couldn't believe it. I was also afraid if I went back to Berk, everyone would only be angry at me for not returning sooner." She stopped and looked at Hiccup. "You're not angry?" she asked. Hiccup shrugged, "No…I don't know. It's a lot to take in." Valka nodded and smiled in relief.

Speedy roared in delight when she saw Astrid walk in. "Hey, girl, how are you doing? Your wing isn't too badly damaged, is it?" Astrid said as she examined the bandaged wing. The dragon shook her head and Astrid sensed that the dragon was very happy. That's when Astrid heard some very loud puking noises coming from the back. Speedy got a bit nervous and curled herself into a ball. Stormfly turned her head away at the disgusting noise. Astrid walked father into the infirmary. Some dragons had suddenly gotten very weak and dizzy. They couldn't fly anymore or even walk in their condition. Yet neither she nor Valka understood what kind of sickness it was. In the end, they decided to keep the weak dragons in the back of the infirmary and keep an eye on them until they got better. Astrid stopped in her tracks and stared in horror at the sight in front of her. "Oh no, this is NOT good, not good at all."

 _ **The dialog between Hiccup and Valka is the same as in the 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **movie until they're in the valley.**_

 _ **Sorry for again taking so long. It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I'm going to try to be a bit quicker with the next chapter.**_


End file.
